The best sleep tracker 2024: All the best tech to improve your sleep

Samsung Galaxy ring on a blue background
(Image credit: Future / Samsung)

The best sleep trackers on the market will give you unprecedented insight into your nighttime rest. Not only can they tell you how long you sleep, but they'll also tell you about the quality of sleep that you're getting, tracking important metrics like heart rate and activity.

Alone, they won't necessarily help you sleep better, but they can help you learn more about your sleeping patterns, helping you manage your routine better. They can also help you get ahead of potential health issues like sleep apnea.

That's why choosing the right sleep tracker for you is vital. Fortunately, there's a host of choices, including a wide range of types of devices. There are smart rings, headphones, and even discreet sensors that lie under your mattress. While many of the best smartwatches and the best fitness trackers offer some form of sleep tracking, a more specialized device will take your insight to the next level.

So if you're looking to kickstart your 2025 fitness goals, don't forget that sleep is a vital part of health and recovery, treat yourself to a sleep tracker and give yourself a boost.

The quick list

Want to get straight to the best sleep tracker for you? Here's our quick round-up of our six top picks. You can read more about each one by clinking the links below.

Best sleep tracker overall

Samsung Galaxy Ring

(Image credit: Future / Matt Evans)
The best sleep tracker overall

Specifications

Type of tracker: Ring
Sleep stages: Yes
Meditation: No
Chronotypes: Yes
Companion app: Samsung Health

Reasons to buy

+
Up to 7-day battery life
+
Earbuds-style charging case
+
No subscription fee

Reasons to avoid

-
Requires Samsung Health app
-
High initial cost

New for 2024, the Samsung Galaxy Ring is a brilliant, well-rounded health and fitness tracker powered by AI. It boasts up to 7-day battery life, and there's no subscription fee like you'd find with the Oura ring. You do need the Samsung Health app, and it's a bit more expensive than the Oura in terms of initial outlay. But once you've bought one, there are no monthly or hidden costs to speak of.

Samsung touts its ring as a "set and forget" experience, you can simply slip it on and then forget about it. Long battery life and its low-profile form factor ensure it's not as intrusive as a watch, and certainly not as in-your-face as a headband or even a smartwatch.

For when you're not asleep there's water resistance and a rugged titanium chassis. Sensors include PPG and an accelerometer, as well as skin temperature measurements. There's also a nifty earbuds-style charging case that will get you up to six charges before you need to plug it into the wall. Connectivity is powered by Bluetooth 5.4.

While the Samsung ring is compatible with other Android phones, you'll get the best experience on a Samsung device. iPhone users, beware! This is not compatible with iOS, so won't work with your device.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Ring Review

Best sleep tracker on a budget

Withings Sleep Analyzer

The Withings Sleep Analyzer is simple to use; just place it under your mattress, plug it in, and it will record your sleep each night automatically (Image credit: Withings)
The best budget sleep tracker

Specifications

Type of tracker: Pad
Sleep stages: Yes
Meditation: No
Chronotypes: No
Companion app: Withings Health Mate

Reasons to buy

+
One-time setup
+
Impressive level of detail
+
Can't be felt at night

Reasons to avoid

-
Has to be plugged in
-
Some inaccuracies in results

Even the best mattress doesn't guarantee a great night's sleep. The Withings Sleep Analyzer is a pad you can slip underneath to keep a track of your sleep quality without having to wear anything on your wrist.

It means you can just jump into bed and you don't have to worry about putting on an extra sleep tracker, and if you do own a fitness tracker or smartwatch you can rest assured that it will be possible to charge it while you doze.

The Withings Sleep will monitor lots of stats too, including your sleep phases, your heart rate, the amount of time you've been snoring and the duration of your sleep.

If you just want to crawl into bed and have all of your sleep quality recorded and ready for you to digest in an easy-to-use app, the Withings Sleep is the perfect sleep tracker for you.

Read our full Withings Sleep Analyzer review

The best sleep tracker with a subscription

Oura Ring 4

The Oura ring accurately detects exactly when you nod off, and tracking your sleeping patterns with precision (Image credit: Future)
The best sleep tracker with a subscription

Specifications

Type of tracker: Smart ring
Sleep stages: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Chronotypes: Yes
Companion app: Oura

Reasons to buy

+
Simple, elegant design
+
Wealth of granular health info
+
Easy to wear, use and navigate

Reasons to avoid

-
Ongoing, necessary subscription
-
Ring can get scratched easily

The Oura Ring 4 is the latest iteration of Oura's popular, discreet smart wearable. It builds on the successful formula of its forebears but comes with a new updated design for 2024 and beyond.

As such it's more comfortable to wear than the previous version, and comes in more sizes. There's also a redesigned app to go with it.

All the usual sleep, activity, and readiness scores are there, and there's also Oura Advisor, an AI health tool where you can ask questions. In our review we found its sleep tracking to be highly accurate, and Oura remains a mainstay when it comes to accurate sleep tracking.

Oura still requires its $5.99 subscription to use, so bear that cost in mind when you're buying one. It's cheaper to buy upfront than the Samsung Galaxy Ring, but only slightly, and that subscription will soon eat into your savings.

Read our full Oura 4 review

Best sleep tracking headphones

Kokoon Nightbuds

(Image credit: Future)
Relaxing sounds, music streaming, and sleep tracking all in one

Specifications

Type of tracker: Earbuds
Sleep stages: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Chronotypes: No
Companion app: Kokoon Relax

Reasons to buy

+
Secure, comfortable fit
+
Wide choice of sounds
+
Work with your own music
+
Meditation sessions for daytime

Reasons to avoid

-
No charging case
-
Basic sleep analysis
-
Expensive for a sleep aid

The Kokoon Nightbuds are a set of lightweight headphones packed with all the sleep tech you could ask for. Like the Bose Sleepbuds II they can play soothing sounds to help you drift off, but they also work like regular Bluetooth headphones to stream any audio from your phone, and (like the Amazfit Zenbuds) have an optical heart rate monitor built into one earpiece tracks your sleep patterns overnight.

Sleep tracking data is quite simple; you can see the duration of your sleep and how long you spent in each sleep stage, but there's no deep analysis of exactly what this means, or personalized advice on how to improve your sleep in the future. Accuracy is impressive, though; your ear is an excellent place for an optical heart rate sensor as it's less susceptible to light leakage, and blood circulation isn't going to be disturbed by your sleeping position.

The audio is the main feature here; the app doesn't just feature a wide array of white noise and nature sounds, but also contains a library of guided meditations and abstract music that you can combine with the ambient sounds to create a personal soundtrack. The Nightbuds are comfortable too, and stay firmly in place even if you're a side-sleeper thanks to their stretchy headband and the soft 'prongs' on their silicone earpieces.

Read our full Kokoon Nightbuds review

Best sleep tracking headband

Muse S

Muse S is a soft headband that senses brain activity to help with meditation, relaxation, and sleep (Image credit: Muse)
The best sleep tracker for relaxation

Specifications

Type of tracker: Headband
Sleep stages: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Chronotypes: No
Companion app: Muse

Reasons to buy

+
Calming guided meditations
+
Real-time bio feedback
+
Simple to use

Reasons to avoid

-
Cumbersome at night
-
App is battery-intensive

The Muse S is a soft headband that monitors brain activity through your skin, as well as tracking movement, heart rate, and skin temperature. It uses that cocktail of data to help guide you through meditation sessions during the day, and to provide detailed sleep tracking at night.

The band sits comfortably around your head, with the central pod in the middle of your forehead, and is an interesting option for anyone who struggles to wear a watch at night. It connects to the Muse app on your phone via Bluetooth, and eases you off to sleep with gentle soundscapes or spoken-word 'journeys' (essentially gentle bedtime stories to help you relax).

Once you're settled down, the Muse S will monitor your sleep, including restlessness and which side you sleep on. In the morning, all the information is ready to review in the app, which gives you an extremely detailed breakdown of your nocturnal activity and wellbeing.

What we enjoyed most about the Muse S was its meditation training, but it's also an excellent sleep tracker and a good option if you want to incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine.

Read our full Muse S review

Best sleep tracking earbuds

Amazfit Zenbuds

The Amazfit Zenbuds play soothing sounds to help you drift off, then track your sleep stages and movement during the night (Image credit: Future)

6. Amazfit Zenbuds

Tiny earplugs for soothing sounds and accurate sleep stats

Specifications

Type of tracker: Earbuds
Sleep stages: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Chronotypes: No
Companion app: Zepp app

Reasons to buy

+
Huge array of soundscapes
+
Very small and comfortable
+
Cheaper than Bose Sleepbuds II
+
Impressive sleep tracking

Reasons to avoid

-
No active noise cancelling
-
Electrical contacts can be fiddly

The Amazfit Zenbuds might look like true wireless headphones, but they're something quite different, sitting somewhere between a sleep tracker and a white noise machine. Rather than streaming music from your phone, these tiny sleep earplugs play gentle sounds (ranging from soft rainfall to a kitten's snores), which are uploaded from the accompanying mobile app. If you're thinking that sounds quite similar to the Bose Sleepbuds, you'd be right, but that's not all.

Once you've drifted off to sleep, the Zenbuds begin monitoring your heart rate and movement, detecting when you move between sleep stages and any disturbances overnight. They can even detect when you've rolled over, and how long you spent lying on each side, your front, and your back. As we found in our tests, the results may be surprising.

The Amazfit Zenbuds are impressive, comfortable to wear (even for side sleepers) and are surprisingly affordable too. If you suffer from poor sleep, they come highly recommended.

Read our full Amazfit Zenbuds review

How to choose the best sleep tracker for you

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

First off, it’s worth taking a look at your budget. If money’s no object, you may as well go for the best overall fitness tracker in the Oura ring, which provides incredible sleep metrics in great detail as well as generic daily wellness and fitness statistics, at the cost of an expensive unit plus membership to the Oura service.

It doesn’t track your workouts in the same way a watch might, but rumors point to features such as workout tracking coming down the line for the next generation of Oura devices, or possibly being added as a patch to the current gen.

If your budget is more restrictive, or you don’t like wearables, you might opt for the under-mattress pad the Withings Sleep Analyzer, which is far more affordable and will still do a great job monitoring your sleep. Best of all, you can plug it in and then more or less forget about it - no removing it from your finger, ears or wrist to recharge, just leave it under your bed. Alternatively, you may prefer a middle ground, which is where earbuds such as the Amazfit and Kokoon nightbuds come in. These aren’t quite wearables, but don’t run up to the same price as the Oura ring, with gentle sounds lulling you to sleep in addition to monitoring your vitals.

How we test

All our sleep trackers are tested for at least several days and sometimes over a week, long enough for the tracker to build up a longitudinal picture of our sleep. We look for accuracy, testing them against other devices, whether they need to be charged and if so, how long the battery lasts compared to the figure on the box. We also access the advice the product gives when it comes to improving sleep.

Finally, we’ll check all the above and examine whether the product is worth parting with your hard-earned cash. Sleeping better is one of the simplest ways to improve your health and happiness, but it’s also one of the most difficult things to improve. That’s why you can be sure we take sleep health tech seriously!

Stephen Warwick
Fitness & Wearables writer

Stephen Warwick is TechRadar's Fitness & Wearables writer with nearly a decade of experience covering technology, including five years as the News Editor of iMore. He's a keen fitness enthusiast and is never far from the local gym, Apple Watch at the ready, to record his latest workout. Stephen has experience writing about every facet of technology including products, services, hardware, and software. He's covered breaking news and developing stories regarding supply chains, patents and litigation, competition, politics and lobbying, the environment, and more. He's conducted interviews with industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. Outside of work, he's a massive tech and history buff with a passion for Rome Total War, reading, and music.